0 mother of spite, Speak the last of that curse and imprison me quite, In the husk of a brute that no pity may name The man that I was, that no kindred may claim- The monster that hunters shun in their flight, The men in their horror, the women in fright. A horse a horse a kingdom for a horse In this, as in many other sentences of the great dramatist, there is more philosophy than at first meets the eye. No doubt if Richard when the tide of battle turned against him at Bosworth Field, could have procured such a steed as that which carried the renowned Dick Turpin to York, he might, like Turpin, have effected his flight to that city, and there, as he was highly esteemed, he might not onIy have escaped from his adversary but have raised such an army among his northern retainers, by whom he was sincerely beloved, as would have turned the tide of war in his favour but for want of a horse he was overtaken and slain. No doubt the Egyptians, who were the first to use the horse for military purposes, won many of their tributary kingdoms by means of their cavalry. The success of the Spaniards in Peru was in no small degree owing to their cavalry, as the natives, who thought the horse and his rider were one animal, became alarmed, and fled at the very sight of the cavalry. It is therefore, no exaggeration to say that kingdoms have been won and lost by means of the horse. King Robert Bruce, through a little strategy and the fleetness of his horse, escaped the machinations of the traitor Comyn, and saved his life, and afterwards won the crown and kingdom of Scotland. A friend of Bruces-who was residing at the Court of Edward, King of England-ascertained that a plot had been concocted to murder Bruce in his castle at Lochmaben and fearing to send any written Centaur. communication, Iest it should be intercepted, forwarded to Bruce a pair of spurs and a purse of gold. Bruce knew that the spurs meant flight, and the purse, means for his journey but the ground was covered with snow, and if he were to fly, the conspirators could easily trace him. He however got the blacksmith to invert his horses shoes, so that by the prints of the horses feet upon the snow, it appeared Bruce had returned to his castle instead of having just left it. The ruse succeeded admirably, and Bruce escaped to Dumfries-a town about 8 miles from his castle-where he met the chief conspirator and slew him. At the Battle of Bannockburn, Bruces horse rendered him valuable service in several of the hand-to- hand encounters in which he was on that day engaged. Many instances are on record of monarchs and others being saved through the swiftness, courage, or ingenuity of the horse. Thus we are told, 1st Book of Kings, 20th chapter, and 20th verse-That every one slew his man, and the Syrians fled, and Israel pursued them, and Ben-hadad, the King of Syria, escaped on an horse. The horse has, from the time of the Egyptians to the present day, been intimately associated with man in all his undertakings a work, therefore which will treat of The Horse and its immediate surrounding cannot fail to be both interesting and useful, and such the author trusts his work will prove.....